About Me

Bilingual Roman Catholic priest of the Southern Dominican Province. The "homilettes" on this website are completely the work of Fr. Mele. He may be contacted at cmeleop@yahoo.com.
Telephone: (415) 279-9234.

Like some of the other national holidays, "Labor Day” has lost much of its
meaning.Few people today see it as an
opportunity to celebrate work.Instead,
like Presidents’ Day and even Memorial Day, Labor Day is just another day
off.Ideally, it is an opportunity to
contemplate at leisure the meaning of work and its inherent dignity. Today’s
gospel can assist us in this effort.

Jesus
proclaims "glad tidings to the poor." He does not have only the homeless
and unemployed in mind.The vast
majority of workers at this time have difficulty meeting family needs. As is
indicated in the parable of the Laborers of the Vineyard, many workers do not
receive a full day’s wage.But now that
Jesus has come, workers may fret no longer.He brings the good news of salvation. As his disciples, the rich will
share with the poor.More to the point, as
God’s anointed Jesus will lead the people from fetishes and misconceptions
about religion.He will speak authoritatively
so that they will follow.Most of all he
will care for the people sacrificing himself so that they may be freed from the
snares of sin.

Work, of
course, produces much more than money to put food on the table. As importantly,
it gives all women and men occasion to confirm their inherent dignity by participating
in divine creation. This may be readily seen in the efforts of engineers,
scientists, and artists, but it is also true of people who labor. By cooking,
selling, or cleaning, we make the world a better place.Putting our mind as well as our muscle into
work, we can legitimately call ourselves “co-creators of the world.”

Friday of
the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
(I Corinthians 1:17-25; Matthew 25:1-13)

Last year the movie Casablanca
celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary.Of course, that is not so great a milestone.It was newsworthy because the movie never
ceases to capture the imagination of the public.What makes it so outstanding?Some will say it was the acting of Ingrid
Bergman and Humphrey Bogart.Others
marvel at how the movie was filmed in its entirety in Hollywood.But consider this as the reason for the
movie’s popularity: it re-presents the sacrifice of which St. Paul writes in
today’s first reading.

The movie portrays a man’s sacrifice of the woman he loves
for her benefit and that of a foreign nation.In the Letter to the Corinthians Paul tells of how he preaches Jesus
Christ who sacrificed himself for the good of humanity.The sacrifice, Paul says, would be considered
folly by the Greeks, the worldly wise, who marvel at rational arguments.Likewise, it would be considered inconsequential
by Jews, the worldly prudent, who look for demonstrations of power.But to those with an inkling of the true God,
Christ’s sacrifice reveals the superabundance of divine love.

God’s love for us is more immense than an ocean and more
intense than the sun.We can never
understand it fully, much less imitate it completely.We only can give thanks for it and vow to
follow the same Jesus Christ in all he said and did.

A year before he was murdered, Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr., delivered a famous speech about work.He preached that each of us in her or his occupation should do the best
job possible.Knowing that many of the
people listening to him had relatively simple jobs, he focused on street
sweepers.“If a man is called to be a
street sweeper,” King said, “he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo
painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry.”In today’s gospel Jesus calls his disciples
to work with the same kind of diligence.

The passage comprises the middle section of Jesus’ “eschatological
discourse” in Matthew’s gospel.The Lord
is teaching his disciples how to consider the end of time when he will come in
glory.Ironically he says that one
prepares for his coming by not preparing.Since the end will come when it is least expected, disciples must always
be ready for it.They are to assiduously
fulfill their daily responsibilities.Jesus uses a butler as his prime example.As a worthy butler will dispense food rations
equitably so must disciples perform their duties prudently.As the
responsible butler will be made chief steward, faithful disciples will find secure
places in the Kingdom.

For many of us a new year is beginning at this time when
summer is ending.It is time to
rededicate ourselves to our task – be it school work or waiting tables.We do it for the Lord as much as for
ourselves or for the common good.We
want people to say, “There goes a true Christian,” if they should see us at
work.

In Shakespeare’s tragedy, Julius Caesar, the protagonist says: "Cowards die many times
before their deaths. The valiant never taste of death but once."Caesar is referring to the many occasions in
which cowards betray their consciences.Out
of fear they fail to do what is right.King Herod proves himself to be a coward in today’s gospel.

Herod fears that his guests will think of him as weak-kneed
for refusing to carry out the promise he made.He also shows himself a coward for not reprimanding his stepdaughter for
her outrageous request.Quite the
opposite, John the Baptist shows real courage by speaking out against Herod for
causing a public scandal.He knows that
civic leaders should give good example to the people by living upright
lives.

We are being continuously jarred by the unseemly acts of
politicians.Marital infidelity and cavorting
with prostitutes are regular front-page features.We need to look to Jesus for a remedy.He will tell us not to cast stones on the
guilty.But he will add that their sins
cannot be tolerated.They should repent,
do penance, and find consolation from us.After all, we too struggle at times to live righteously.

It has been said that the three most influential persons
in Christianity are Jesus, St. Paul, and today’s patron, St. Augustine.It is a plausible selection.Jesus and Paul are natural choices, and much
can be said to defend Augustine’s placement in the troika. His prodigious
thought lent coherency to biblical teaching.And his long service allowed him to comment on most aspects of theology
and church life.He wrote books, theological
tracts, and sermons.His best known work,
The Confessions, is found on most
lists of great books of Western Civilization.He certainly fulfilled the demand articulated in today’s first reading.

The Second Letter to the Thessalonians like most New
Testament epistles emphasizes the urgency of holding to faith traditions.“…stand firm and hold fast to the traditions
that you were taught,” it says.Unlike
other religious systems Christianity understands itself as a religion with a
fixed theological tradition.Proper understanding
of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit more than anything else makes one a
Christian.Morality, particularly love
of God and neighbor, is also essential but in a real sense not so much as firmness
of belief.

Today, as in biblical times, there are many odd ideas
that pretend to be Christian.The “prosperity
gospel” provides a relevant example.Of course, Christ never preached the desirability
of riches, quite the opposite.Endeavoring
to understand our faith will help us to practice as he taught and lived.

As many young people do not practice the faith of their
childhood, St. Monica is becoming a more popular saint.Parents turn to her as their patron and
model.Monica prayed for the conversion
of her errant son Augustine.As a young
man, the future saint pursued esoteric teachings and lived with a
mistress.In today’s first reading Paul
tells the Thessalonians how he prays for them much like Monica prayed for her
son.

Paul asks God “that the name of our Lord Jesus may be
glorified in (the Thessalonians), and (they) in him.” This indeed took
place.The Thessalonians endured trials
to maintain their faith in Christ and were to be justly rewarded for their
efforts.However, the Thessalonians’
influence on Christianity and western civilization can hardly be compared with
that of St. Augustine.He was one of the
Church’s greatest theologians.Equally important,
his introspection set intellectual thought on a psychological course that
continues today.

Above all, Monica teaches us the need for persistent,
loving prayer. She prayed for years that
Augustine might use his prodigious talents for God and the Church.Likewise, we must not give up when our
prayers are not readily answered or seem to ask too much.We need to pray until our knees bleed and our
hearts are ready to faint.Then we will
see blessings.

As with most of the twelve disciples whom we recognize as
apostles, we know little about Bartholomew.Since in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, he is paired with
Philip, Biblical scholars hold that he is the same as Nathanael whom the Gospel
of John associates with Philip.Nathanael, as today’s gospel relates, proclaims the identity of Jesus as
the long-awaited Messiah.With this statement
the evangelist John presents Nathaniel-Bartholomew like Luke introduces the sage
Simeon at the presentation of Jesus in the Temple. Both are portrayed as prophets announcing the
redemption of Israel.

Even though Bartholomew’s biography remains largely obscure,
any one of us would trade places with him.After all, he saw and even touched salvation in person!That is, he followed Jesus first-hand, heard
his voice, felt the warmth of his hand.It is taken for granted that the apostles suffered martyrdom.They could do so willingly, however, because
they knew that Jesus to whom they testified would give them eternal life.

We cannot know Jesus as the twelve apostles did, but
nevertheless he allows us access to himself.His words remain in the gospel, his flesh and blood are ingested in the
Eucharist, and his Spirit is felt in the love Christians demonstrate.In faith we know that Jesus is present to us.Drawing strength from him, we like the
apostles may give witness to him by dying to ourselves in service to others.

Fr. Stanley Rother, an American missionary to Guatemala, was
assasinated in 1981.Two years ago, Pope
Francis declared that Fr. Rother was killed in
odium fidei (in hatred of the faith); that is, as a martyr which qualifies for
him the title of “Blessed.” His story portrays atypical heroism and also a typical
devotion on the part of the native peoples of Guatemala.

Fr. Rother refused to leave the indigenous people of his
village despite persistent death threats.Eventually soldiers carried out the crime.When Fr. Rother’s family came to take Fr.
Rother’s body for burial in Oklahoma, the people resisted.They claimed that he had been their priest
and their protector.Finally, the two
sides compromised.All of Fr. Rother’s
body except his heart was returned to the United States.The native people, however, retained his noble
and loving heart in their church.

The reading from Ezekiel today promises that everyone’s
heart will be purified like Fr. Rother’s.Ezekiel says that God will replace the stony hearts of the people with
tender hearts.Then they will be able to
give fitting homage to God and show loving care to one another.He adds that this will be done by gathering the
people in a new land and sprinkling them with clean water.

Ezekiel’s prophecy has been fulfilled in our time.Jesus has renewed our hearts in Baptism (the
sprinkling) which brings us into his Church (the new land).Regrettably, however, some fail to follow him
choosing instead self-gratification.We
can pray for them while we give thanks for our renewal in love.

The lay woman was complaining about the injustice to
religious sisters two generations ago.She reiterated the fact that those valiant women labored in Catholic
schools for thirty dollars a month.Then
the woman compared that system with the current way teachers receive less than
counterparts in business. Was the system back then really unjust?And how about the current payment of teachers:
is it fair?

As always it is necessary to consider the context when evaluating
moral actions.The sisters had vowed to
a life of poverty.Also, the people they
served were often poor themselves.They sacrificed
themselves for the glory of God and the benefit of the children they
served.They may be equated to the
workers in today’s gospel that bear the day’s heat only to receive the minimum
of support.But unlike at least one of
those workers, they did not grumble.

In God’s Kingdom all workers receive a just wage.That wage takes account of family needs as
well as the principle of equal pay for equal work.Of course, it is no simple matter to balance
all claims to justice.Nevertheless, it should
be said that teachers have an enormous responsibility.When they fulfill it faithfully, they do
deserve an income commensurate with peers in industry.They also merit our appreciation and gratitude.

In The Great Gatsby the
consummate self-made man tries to woo back a former lover by showing off his
expansive wardrobe.The woman, however, who
is also wealthy, is not impressed.Neither the man nor the woman realizes the true purpose of wealth.It does not buy happiness but supports growth
of self and others.Parents might invest
in the education of their children or perhaps use their nice home for a social
with church workers.

The gospel today as well as the reading from Ezekiel conveys
the folly of hankering after wealth.Jesus’ disciples are astounded when he suggests that the wealthy have no
place in the Kingdom.They see the
wealthy as blessed by God on earth and destined to inherit choice places in
heaven.No, Jesus advises them, the rich
perhaps more than the poor need God’s mercy to be saved.

To follow Jesus we must come to terms with wealth.As he says, no person can serve both God and
money. We should show not waver in our allegiance to the Lord.One man did this living by the maxim: for a
successful life a person is to spend twenty years learning, twenty years
earning, and twenty years serving.

In today’s gospel Jesus calls the rich young man to a rich
spiritual life.He invites him to go
beyond the basics of keeping the commandments.He wants him to be “’perfect as (his) heavenly father is perfect.’” The young man must dispossess himself of his
riches and walk with the poor man Jesus.It may seem like a hard row to hoe, but the man has asked for the
formula for eternal life!

St. Bernard not only lived this “body and soul”
spirituality but, like Jesus, called others to it.As abbot he regularly warned monks about
satiating the palate with delicacies and pampering the flesh with fur.But he also recognized that holiness is more
a matter of sacrifice of spiritual excess than of material excess.Pride can be a greater temptation than gold. Sloth may prove a larger pitfall than “surf
and turf.”

Jesus does not call all of us to religious observance but
he does invite everyone to sanctity.We
must deny ourselves in order to love God and neighbor.We cannot live for power, pleasure, or
prestige.Rather we must sacrifice these
ego-gratifying glories to serve others.Doing
so, we will be beneficiaries of God’s eternal glory.

The woman is no longer young.She has never married and, no doubt, wonders
if she ever will.She asks for a book on
sexual ethics to guide her.She says
that most of what she sees pertains to married couples or to youth who one day will
marry.She implies that the Church has
abandoned people in her position.Even
in the gospel today Jesus does not seem to address the possibility that one may
not marry because there never was an opportunity to do so.

The apostle Paul does take up the issue in the First Letter
to the Corinthians where he says that that “it is a good thing” that the
unmarried and the widowed remain as they are if they can exercise control over
their passions.He reasons that the
unmarried may concern themselves exclusively with pleasing the Lord where the
married have various interests competing for their attention.

But Jesus is actually not far from Paul as he advises that
those who can accept what he teaches about forsaking marriage for the sake of
the Kingdom should do so.Furthermore, those
who lack opportunity to marry need not lament over their situation but should consider
it carefully.They will probably discern,
as professed celibates readily do, that being unmarried offers manifold
possibilities.They will have more
opportunities to serve the common good, to befriend different kinds of people,
and to learn about the world.

In The Great Gatsby the
consummate self-made man tries to woo back a former lover by showing off his
expansive wardrobe.The woman, however, who
is also wealthy, is not impressed.Neither the man nor the woman realizes the true purpose of wealth.It does not buy happiness but supports growth
of self and others.Parents might invest
in the education of their children or perhaps use their nice home for a social
with church workers.

The gospel today as well as the reading from Ezekiel conveys
the folly of hankering after wealth.Jesus’ disciples are astounded when he suggests that the wealthy have no
place in the Kingdom.They see the
wealthy as blessed by God on earth and destined to inherit choice places in
heaven.No, Jesus advises them, the rich
perhaps more than the poor need God’s mercy to be saved.

To follow Jesus we must come to terms with wealth.As he says, no person can serve both God and
money. We should show not waver in our allegiance to the Lord.One man did this living by the maxim: for a
successful life a person is to spend twenty years learning, twenty years
earning, and twenty years serving.

Exile is a terrible experience.We only have to review the situations of Syrian
refugees in Lebanon and Jordan to appreciate exile’s horrors.The foreign cultures they inhabit lack
familiar institutions that might provide some solace.They have trouble finding jobs which leads to
their exploitation as slave labor. They are also exceptionally vulnerable to
new diseases and to swindlers’ deceptions.

In the reading from Ezekiel today God wants the prophet to
show the Jerusalemites that they are headed on a course of exile.Ezekiel is to act as a person uprooted from
his native place to awaken the people that their sins are bringing them to
ruin.The hope is that the people will
reform their lives so that God might spare them the trauma of exile.Sadly, however, they will refuse to repent.

We see Jesus as bringing us out of the exile that sin has
caused.Adam and Eve’s expulsion from
the garden was the prototype of exile from which Jesus has rescued us.He brought us to the “Kingdom of heaven,” not
yet heaven but on the way there.This
state is not so much a physical place as it is a renewed relationship with God
in which we experience the peace of Christ.Acquiring the relationship, we will forgive others their offenses
against us, as the gospel today recommends, because we have come to realize how
gracious God is to us.

We might think that the Church honors Mary just for being
the mother of Jesus.As we too well know
from the recent “royal wedding,” relations to the sovereign have special
status.But Mary’s relationship with
Jesus runs deeper than blood.The Church
recognizes her as the first and most committed evangelizer.In today’s gospel passage Mary proclaims the
good news of Jesus before he is born!

Mary sings of how God saves the poor, among whom she
considers herself. She says that God has “’has lifted up the lowly’” and “’has
filled the hungry with good things.’”This is very good news for all who have waited patiently for the Messiah.Not only the destitute but also the faithful
who generously help the needy can now rejoice.

Mary is rewarded for her own faithful attentiveness to God
with a special place in heaven.She
occupies this space body and soul according to the ancient tradition of the
Church.We gladly sing her praises,
follow her example, and pray for her intercession before the Almighty.

Every other summer the Church presents a healthy
selection of readings from the prophets of Israel in weekday masses.Some may wonder why the Church bothers with
these ancient authors.For centuries the
answer was because the prophets foretell the coming of Christ.But since the Vatican renewal, the prophets
and, indeed, the entire Old Testament are read with a wider scope.

In today’s reading the prophet Ezekiel tells of his call
to proclaim the word of God.He finds
himself in Babylonia as an exile.The
heavens roar with thunder, and the lightning gives way to a vision of glory.
God appears in human form.The scene is
reminiscent of a famous definition of God as mysterium tremendum et fascinans (fearful and
fascinating mystery).

God calls us out of ourselves
and our petty concerns to serve Him.The
experience can be frightening. It means letting go of at least a modicum of
peace.But following the Lord’s
directive, we will find greater happiness.He will lead us to a life transcending our dreams.

The Church’s calendar is so filled with memorials for the
early martyrs that some may think there were more in antiquity than today.But they would be mistaken.More people die because of their belief in
Christ now than ever.The Christians who
were slaughtered by ISIS soldiers a few years provide all too real evidence
that blood continues to flow for Christ.

Today’s gospel assures that martyrs do not die in
vain.In the parable of the grain of
wheat Jesus compares a martyr with a seed.Just as the grain must die if it is to bring about an abundance of
grains to eat, so must there be martyrs to attract the multitudes to
Christ.For this reason the Church has
claimed, “The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians.”

Today we celebrate one of the most illustrious Roman
martyrs.Lawrence was a deacon in charge
of the Church’s treasury.It is said
that when the imperial authorities came searching for the Church’s treasures,
Lawrence led them to the poor whom the Church has always fed.The authorities lost no time in punishing
this act of defiance.We should emulate
Lawrence in both ways indicated here.We
should testify to the Church’s option for the poor.And we should readily make sacrifices for the
Lord.

It has been seven-three years today since the city of
Nagasaki was devastated by the atomic bomb. The ruin was calamitous – estimates
indicate that a quarter of the population perished and a good portion of the
city destroyed.It completed demoralized
the Japanese resistance which almost immediately surrendered to the Allied
forces.One might think of Nagasaki in
picturing Jerusalem at the time of Jeremiah’s prophecy in the first reading.

Hope in the holy city is scant as the Babylonians have
desecrated the Temple, killed thousands of people, and taken into captivity
many other thousands.“What good could
possibly come of all this?” the prophet, a survivor, surely asks himself. But
he does not remain in disillusion very long.He feels the Holy Spirit welling inside him.Like a musical round that refuses to leave
one’s head repeating words of consolation, the Spirit speaks.“I will write my law upon their hearts,” it
says.The people will never stray from God’s
law again because it is to be engraved in them.To the contrary it will bring righteousness to individual lives and
justice to society.

The law of which the prophet foretells and Jesus proclaims
is none other than God’s Holy Spirit.Inscribed upon our hearts with Baptism, the Spirit prompts us to always
do good, to avoid evil, and to love sincerely.It has written counterparts in the Sermon on the Mount and other
Scriptural passages.But the New Law is
first spiritual, intractable, and comforting even if it demands of us
everything.

Most effective people set limits on their work.Without limits they may find themselves dispersed
and their projects come to nothing.A
therapist writes of the limit he imposed on a sibling who was draining him
emotionally and financially.He had to focus
his attention on their mother with Alzheimer’s, his own family, and his
clients.In today’s gospel Jesus tries
to set a limit with a pagan woman who asks him to help her daughter.

At first Jesus politely tells the woman that he cannot meet
her need.He says that his mission is
among the Jewish people.But the woman refuses
to accept his reason.Then Jesus attempts
brushing off her request with barbed humor.The woman, however, throws the remark back at him.Jesus, whose love for people knows no bounds,
finally gives in and grants her needs.

Today the Church remembers St. Dominic Guzman, the
founder of the Order of Preachers.Like
Jesus, he set limits but was willing to transgress them.Dominic was a man imminently disposed to do
the will of his colleagues.That was a
self-imposed limit.But there is one
recorded incident when he seemingly acted unilaterally although, no doubt,
under the Lord’s direction.In August of
2017 the group of men Dominic gathered together was living with him in southern
France.Dominic decided to send them out
two-by-two to different cities in Europe.Some objected that it was not yet time to begin the apostolate.Dominic
only replied that he knew what he was doing.The bold action has resulted in significant accomplishments both for the
Church and western civilization.

A man tells of a revelation during a particularly trying time.He felt his world crumbling after his wife
was diagnosed with cancer.The night
they received the news while locking the doors of his parish church, he stopped
to make a plea for mercy.Then, he says,
he felt an arm reaching across his back and a voice telling him that everything
will be okay.How else could the man
interpret this experience except as a divine pronouncement?The apostles in today’s gospel would have
known what this man was feeling after their encounter with the Lord.

The passage is often taken as an allegory for the early
Church in crisis.Jesus is risen and
ascended into heaven.The nascent Church,
symbolized by the little boat, is having great difficulty, perhaps from
persecution or maybe from internal disputes.The stormy sea represents primordial, destructive forces that always
threaten human projects with annihilation.But the Lord, who seemed to the apostles to be absent, is actually there
to help them.He tells them not
worry.He even bids their leader to act
boldly in face of the crisis.

Just as much as hurricanes and earthquakes threaten the
order of creation, accidents and diseases lurk among us.We need not hesitate to call on the Lord for
protection.But let us not forget to
thank him when the clouds break, the sun shines, and we feel as free as butterflies.

When Pope St. John Paul II visited the United States in
1987, I and perhaps others had a moment of truth.At the time the world was being traumatized
by the AIDS epidemic.Many feared that not
just any contact but simply being the presence of an AIDS patient risked
contamination.John Paul, however,
showed the world that AIDS patients deserve care not isolation.In San Francisco he hugged the AIDS patients
that were invited to meet him.With all
his strictness he proved to be a person of compassion more likely expressing
the will of God than any of his critics.In today’s gospel a similar revelation takes place.

Jesus’ disciples have an inkling of his divinely
appointed leadership.Peter had recently
declared that Jesus was the Messiah.But
then Jesus, quite astoundingly, said that he would have to suffer and die at
the hands of men.A question no doubt
arose in their minds, “Can Peter have been right in seeing him as the
long-awaited king of Israel?” Jesus then takes his most prominent disciples to
the mountain where his glory is revealed. Peter named him correctly.

As we know too well, we live in an age of disbelief.People no longer believe that God, His angels
and saints are here to help us.We too
can find reassurance in the episode of the Transfiguration.Yes, Jesus is the Messiah.He died to free us from the burden of our
sins.He is leading us to the glory of
the saints.

You Can’t Go Home
Again is the provocative title of a novel by novelist Tom Wolfe.The story describes the plight of a writer
who publishes a successful book about his hometown.When he returns to the town, he finds his
former neighbors upset with how he has portrayed them.Apparently it is not that they have changed
so much as it is he who changed.Now he sees
deep into reality to note people’s motives and desires.Jesus has a similar experience when returning
to Nazareth in today’s gospel passage.

Jesus, it can be assumed, tells the people of Nazareth
about his Father, God.This claim
disturbs his neighbors.“”Is he not the
carpenter’s son?’” they ask openly. Rather than heed what he says about God,
they dismiss his preaching as pretentious.

We must take care not to treat Jesus similarly.He is the Son of God who deserves our utmost
attention and obedience.He is not like
any other human being whose message in part is destined to be relativized.Rather his words will always resound with how
to live in harmony with the Father.

Preachers today often speak of God’s “unconditional
love.”Rightly understood, the statement
is on target.God’s love is not conditioned
by our actions.He loves sinners as wells
as saints. He wants the best for all humans.He is always there to help them if they but turn to Him.

Yet it seems that some run too fast with the idea of
God’s unconditional love.They seem to
say that it assures everyone a place in the Kingdom.They want to claim that nothing anyone does
might deprive him or her from life eternal.A funeral director, who hears plenty of
homilies about God’s mercy, said that this was one of the results of Vatican
II.

But, of course, the bishops arrived at no such conclusion
fifty years ago nor could they do so today.It would counter Jesus’ teaching in the parable of a huge catch of fish
some good and some bad.In the first
reading as well the Lord declares Himself able to reject a people to whom He
has shown great love.